Linux Quake How-to
Author: Steven A
Last updated: September 2, 2005
This document is a modern guide to GLQuake, a collection of the most
useful tips and a pointer to the best resources still available on the
web.
______________________________________________________________________
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
1.1 Preamble
1.2 About
2. General Info
2.1 Getting Started
2.2 Command Line Options
2.3 Trouble Shooting
2.4 Hardware Acceleration
2.5 Game Console Commands
2.6 Miscellaneous
3. Game Engines
3.1 GLQuake
3.2 QuakeForge
3.3 Darkplaces
3.4 Software Quake
3.5 Other
3.5.1 NPRQuake
3.5.2 FuhQuake
3.5.3 Tenebrae
3.5.4 QuakeWorld
4. Mods
4.1 Mods
4.2 Commercial Mods
4.3 Hexen II - Hammer of Thyrion
4.4 Mapping tools
5. Other
5.1 Text Version
5.2 Old Quake How-To
5.3 Quake II
5.4 Quake III
5.5 FreeBSD
5.6 Links
5.7 Glossary
5.8 Todo
5.9 Author
______________________________________________________________________
1. Introduction
1.1. Preamble
Linux Quake sits at the crossroads of two computing revolutions -
GNU/Linux, the free operating system we all love, and GLQuake, the
first "first person shooter" to use the 3d graphics library OpenGL.
Quake has a loyal community still making games almost ten years after
it's release by ID Software, and thanks to John Carmack releasing the
software under the GPL, people are able to enjoy it on non-proprietary
platforms.
Does all this mean our game is important ? No... It's just fun ;>
1.2. About
This document is not an exhaustive how-to of setting up any one Quake
program, but a modern guide to GLQuake, a collection of the most
useful tips, and a pointer to the best resources still available on
the web - concentrating on the many engine re-writes and incredible
add-ons which make quake such a great game.
2. General Info
2.1. Getting Started
Installing Quake requires a few basic steps.
Getting the game data files is normally done by installing the game
using Microsoft Windows, or a Windows emulator such as Wine, and then
copying the id1 directory of the installed game to your Linux Quake
directory (making sure all files are in ``lowercase'').
You can then install a ``game engine'' and execute this program to
play Quake.
For example, if you installed Jörgen's ``glquake'', typing from an
xterm window glquake.glx -fullscreen -width 800 -height 600 will start
the game at 800x600 resolution in fullscreen mode.
This sounds simple, but if you are new to Linux and you are not
familiar with the Linux command line try one of these links for more
information:
· Linuxgamers Quake howto <http://www.linux-
gamers.net/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=42>
· Quake wiki <http://wiki.quakesrc.org/index.php/HomePage>
2.2. Command Line Options
Quake has a large number of command line options, some of which vary
from engine to engine. The most useful/common ones are:
-window
Run the game in windowed mode
-game NAME
Load the mod NAME.
-mem N
Reserve N megabytes of memory for the internal heap. This
generally defaults to 8 or 16 meg, but must be increased when
playing larger mods.
-width WIDTH
window/fullscreen width
-height HEIGHT
window/fullscreen height
-sndspeed MHz
Set sound sampling rate (eg. 44100, 22100, 11025)
-sndbits N
Set sound bits to N = 8 or 16
-nosound
Disable sound. Necessary when sound is absent/unconfigured to
stop the game from crashing.
-listen N
Allow a maximum of N players/bots to join multiplayer games.
-cddev DEVICE
Use DEVICE for playing the cd music
-nocdaudio
Disable cd audio
-nomouse
Disable pointer support
You can also append Quake commands to the Linux command line by
prefixing them with a plus sign. For example, to automatically start a
new game at hard skill, use glquake.glx +skill 2 +map e1m1.
2.3. Trouble Shooting
Other trouble shooting resources can be found at: Jörgen's GLQuake
Site <http://mfcn.ilo.de/glxquake>, the ``old version'' of this how-
to, and Linux Gamers FAQ <http://www.icculus.org/lgfaq>
Program dies at startup
This is not good, but some simple options to try are:
· - use -nosound if sound is unconfigured.
· - use -noudp if network is unconfigured.
· - use -nocdaudio if cdrom is absent.
· - use -height, -width and -fullscreen command line options to
select a screen mode you know is properly configured.
e.g. glquake.glx -width 800 -height 600 -fullscreen -nosound
Files not lowercased or Data files missing.
Linux Quake requires (most) filenames to be in lowercase. If
you get an error similar to "Error: W_LoadWadFile: couldn't load
gfx.wad" it means the game can't find the data files, possibly
because they are not all lowercase.
· Make sure you have the subdirectory "id1" (not "ID1")
containing the files "pak0.pak" and "pak1.pak".
· For a comprehensive lowercase utility, visit
<http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/filerenameutils>.
"Memory overwrite in Sys_Printf"
· This error means you need to edit file sys_linux.c, procedure
Sys_Printf, at or near line 89, and change text[1024] to
text[4096] and recompile.
Program dies loading level
· Many mods require extra memory. Use the -mem 49152 option to
allocate 48M ram for the heapsize.
· A few newer mods just won't work with standard GLQuake, and
need an enhanced ``game engine'', though they will generally
indicate this in their documentation.
· In some cases, this problem can be sound related. Try some of
the tips in the sound section.
Sound problems
An error such as: "/dev/dsp: Device or resource busy" indicates
some program is already using your sound card, and you will have
to halt this program to get Quake sound effects.
· From the Linux command line, type killall artsd or killall
esd to terminate two popular sound daemons.
"Quake engine games exit, and I see an error about mmap!"
· The Linux Gamers FAQ <http://www.icculus.org/lgfaq>
recommends "Your sound card/driver doesn't support this
needed feature. However, if you use KDE/arts you may be able
to bypass this with the -m switch to the artsdsp wrapper".
Try artsdsp -m glquake.glx.
· If you are using a Linux kernel 2.4 (or earlier) you may also
be using the kernel sound modules rather than ALSA sound.
Swapping your sound modules can be hard work, with good
online documentation scarce, but start with a visit to the
Alsa Homepage <http://www.alsa-project.org> and download the
alsa drivers source code.
Sound stutters or is not very good.
· Try using the -sndspeed or -sndbits option(s).
· You may also try using the ALSA sound modules as mentioned
above.
Mouse look
"This game won't let me look around properly. %$!$@"
· Bring down the console with the "~" key and enter +mlook.
Mouse doesn't work properly
Try the following -
· Start the game in fullscreen mode by using the -fullscreen
option.
· From the console, type _windowed_mouse 1
· If you're using fluxbox, try another window manager. Fluxbox
has issues with some games in fullscreen mode.
· If still without success, try the ``NPRQuake'' sdl client
glquake.sdl which uses the SDL api. Typing export
SDL_VIDEO_X11_DGAMOUSE=0 before starting the game will
disable hardware dga mouse.
· ``FuhQuake'' and ``Darkplaces'' also have re-written mouse
code.
Crazy polygons
Some mission-packs/mods for Quake can cause existing
player/monster models to be drawn with lines all over the place.
To fix this, delete the directory "quake/id1/glquake". When you
next run the game, it will remake this directory and everything
should be fine.
Lines on screen
A common problem with 3dfx cards is a shower of flickering lines
on the screen.
· From the console, type gl_ztrick 0.
2.4. Hardware Acceleration
Setting up hardware GL acceleration under Linux used to be a big deal,
but modern distros should now handle this automatically. Of course
there are exceptions..
Nvidia's drivers for all of their modern video cards are not open
source. Because of this many distributions do not include them. If
your Nvidia card is running slowly this is probably the cause, and
you should visit <http://www.nvidia.com> to download the Linux
installer. In my experience these drivers are great, but not all
versions work 100% with all cards. If you have a misbehaving Nvidia
video card, try a different driver.
While new versions of XFree and Xorg <http://www.x.org> have great
support for Voodoo 3, 4 and 5, early 3dfx hardware such as Voodoo1,
Voodoo2 and Rush are no longer hardware accelerated. To get OpenGL
working for these cards, you'll need to download, install and/or
compile the software libraries called Glide and Mesa. Here
<http://sourceforge.net/docman/display_doc.php?docid=28982&group_id=124987>
is a detailed README on old 3dfx cards.
2.5. Game Console Commands
For more info see
<http://www.planetquake.com/console/commands/quake.html>
The console is an in-game command line at which you can issue
commands, change variables and cheat. It is toggled by pressing the
tilde "~" key when in a game. The main commands include -
god
Invulnerability
noclip
Walk through walls
notarget
Enemies won't attack player
timedemo DEMO
Play DEMO (eg. "demo1") at top speed and show frame rate
impulse N
Issue "impulse N"
These are in-game commands which can be given special uses. The
most common cheat is impulse 9 which gives all weapons.
bind key
Bind a key to perform a command
map MAP
Load MAP
changelevel MAP
Load MAP without resetting player settings
quit
Exit to system
skill VALUE
value = 0 (easy) - 3 (impossible)
Degree of difficulty. Level must be restarted to take effect
r_wateralpha VALUE
value = 0.0 - 1.0
Opacity of water
_snd_mixahead VALUE
value = 0.1 - 1.0
Raising this value is a good way to speed up the game at the
expense of some sound lag. I use 0.3
r_shadows FLAG
flag = 0 | 1
Display model shadows
vid_wait FLAG
flag = 0 | 1
Sync video output with screen refresh
chase_active FLAG
flag = 0 | 1
Show player from third person perspective
2.6. Miscellaneous
· Because of the way the original game renders the sky, any map with
numerous outdoor enemies suffers a big performance hit.
· You can jump further when strafing than when going forward or back
8-)
· The timedemo demo1 command is a great way to benchmark your system.
· Rocket-jumping is the technique of using a rocket or grenade
explosion to jump further than normal. For a demonstration see the
Scourge done Slick speed run.
· John Carmack -
"At this time (march '97), the only standard opengl hardware that
can play glquake reasonably is an intergraph realizm, which is a
VERY expensive card"
· From the original Quake How-To -
"Hardware-accelerated OpenGL Quake is Quake the way God intended it
to be. There is no substitute, and once you've experienced it
there's no going back."
3. Game Engines
The program you execute to run Quake is known as the game engine, and
once you have the data files installed you will have to install one.
Notable Quake game engines are:
3.1. GLQuake
The first place for Linux noobs to go is Jörgen's no frills site. It
is a basic version of OpenGL Quake for Linux, and has some relevant up
to date documentation. Fairly pain free by Linux standards, it looks
and works great, and supports virtually all Quake mods.
<http://mfcn.ilo.de/glxquake>
3.2. QuakeForge
Is one of the best supported Linux Quake projects with many preferring
it to GLQuake. It has a visually enhanced engine , numerous clients
including ``QuakeWorld'', and also Quake C tools. If you want help,
and/or something not covered on Jörgen's GLQuake site, try here.
<http://www.quakeforge.net>
<http://sourceforge.net/projects/quake/>
3.3. Darkplaces
Darkplaces is an amazing Quake engine with a great range of visual
enhancements and options for colour, effects and sound. It also
supports many otherwise incompatible total conversions including the
awesome ``Nehahra'' and improved support for the official mission
packs. Thank-you Havoc.
<http://www.icculus.org/twilight/darkplaces>
3.4. Software Quake
For a more in-depth treatment of Software Quake, see the ``previous
version'' of this how-to.
The original WinQuake source
<http://www.quakeforge.net/files/q1source.zip> also came with two
pixelated versions of the game:
· X Quake (quake.x11)
· Svga Quake (squake)
but compiling them is no longer straight forward. It involves copying
Makefile.linux to Makefile, editing this file to remove the extra
targets , replacing /usr/X11/lib with /usr/X11R6/lib and typing make
build_release.
There are easier options though. ``QuakeForge'' have more than one
software client, and there is also an old SDL Quake
<http://www.libsdl.org/projects/quake/> hacked together by SDL's
author, Sam Lantinga.
3.5. Other
3.5.1. NPRQuake
Another Quake engine which has been ported to Linux but afaik hasn't
been touched in a few years is NPRQuake
<http://www.cs.wisc.edu/graphics/Gallery/NPRQuake/>. Notably, it has
the ability to load different renderers on the fly (!) which is pretty
cool. The linux port <http://www.geocities.com/coolguywithgun>
includes support for the cartoon renderer ainpr
<http://www.cs.unc.edu/%7Eadyilie/comp238/Final/Final.htm>, and works
really well for me.
The SDL version <http://www.tempestgames.com/ryan/> has rewritten
mouse code which may work on some systems where all else fails.
3.5.2. FuhQuake
FuhQuake <http://www.fuhquake.net> "contains numerous gameplay and
eyecandy enhancements over the original QuakeWorld game".
With the focus on multiplayer, it is still actively maintained by Fuh.
3.5.3. Tenebrae
A Quake engine using advanced lighting techniques similar to those in
Doom III. Requires a very fast computer to run. Link
<http://tenebrae.sourceforge.net/>
3.5.4. QuakeWorld
An enhanced Quake engine for online and network multiplayer action. It
is incorporated into ``QuakeForge''. See also ``FuhQuake''
4. Mods
4.1. Mods
There are hundreds of user created levels - known variously as "mods",
"total conversions" or simply "maps", all over the internet. When it
comes to finding them though, many URLs are no longer valid, and it is
easier to just google for a file name (perhaps adding "quake" as an
extra search term) than to try and find the project's homepage - which
is probably just dust in the ether now.
To run new maps, place the bsp file into the Quake/id1/maps
subdirectory, and then start Quake with the +map MAPNAME option.
Installing mods is simply a matter of creating a subdirectory DIR and
extracting the contents of the mod zipfile/tarball into this
directory. The mod is started by using the -game DIR command line
option.
For both maps and mods, all files should be in ``lowercase'' format.
QuakeTerminus has a good list <http://www.quaketerminus.com/addon.htm>
of mods, and Tenfour numerous map reviews
<http://tenfourmaps.telefragged.com/php/revidx.php?gameid=q1&sortby=date&reversesort=1&page=1>.
A few of my favourites are:
Contract Revoked
A modern mod which made my jaw drop, and has an equally
impressive sequel, The Lost Chapters.
<http://kell.spawnpoint.org/convoked.html>
Zerstörer
Dark and bloody, with Doom's paranoiac atmosphere. A classic -
zerstorer.zip <http://www.google.com.au/search?q=zerstorer.zip>
Nehahra
Hugely impressive mod only supported in Linux by LordHavoc's
``Darkplaces'' engine. <http://www.planetquake.com/nehahra>
Neil Manke's mods
Neil wrote the definitive Half-Life mod "They Hunger". The
quality and fun is in these maps too - alba01.zip, alba02.zip,
sofsp1.zip, sofsp2.zip, starshp2.zip
<http://www.planethalflife.com/manke/>
Operation: Urth Majik
Incredible production values and one of my favourites - oum.zip
<http://disenchant.net/files/maps/oum.zip>
Fat Controller's Oum page
<http://www.planetquake.com/fatty/oum/>
The Coagula Contest 2
Coagula
<http://www.planetquake.com/underworld/quakerev030814.html> is a
six level compendium of maps originating from a contest. The
novelty is that all maps are floating in the ether, and it's a
great set.
Fantasy Quake
The first level is tough. The game has some beautiful levels but
plenty of raw edges - fantasy.zip
<http://www.google.com.au/search?q=fantasy.zip>
Blood Mage
... is another medieval themed mod with great monsters and
music. It's a little dated now, and the numerous spells can be
overwhelming - bmfull.zip
<http://www.google.com.au/search?q=bmfull.zip>
Scourge done Slick
SdS is a speed run through Mission Pack 1, Scourge of Armagon.
Hilarious and amazing.
<http://www.planetquake.com/QdQ/sds.html>
Insomnia
Cracking game-play and rivers of blood - czg07.zip
<http://www.google.com.au/search?q=czg07.zip>
Gib Factory
Fun with very innovative models, Ikka's plasma gun and the Doom
cyberdemon - gibfact.zip
<http://www.google.com.au/search?q=gibfact.zip>
Vigil, Museum
Little mods with great game-play! vigil.zip
<http://www.google.com.au/search?q=vigil.zip>, museum.zip
<http://www.google.com.au/search?q=museum.zip>
Navy Seals
Great models and quite innovative - navy3.zip
<http://www.google.com.au/search?q=navy3.zip>
4.2. Commercial Mods
Mission Pack 1
Scourge of Armagon by Ritual Entertainment (formerly known as
Hipnotic Interactive).
Mission Pack 2
Dissolution of Eternity by Rogue Entertainment.
- Both official mission packs are generally acknowledged as
better than the original game.
Malice
Very original Quake total conversion, with the greatest (make
believe) machine gun I've ever unleashed. Worth paying for.
Abyss of Pandemonium
Commercial mod now freely available:
<http://www.planetquake.com/impel>
Ravages of Apocalypse
Xmen mod! Great Models. Shame about the game-play. ...When good
mods turn bad.
Shrak
One of the first commercial mods with nice monsters, but the
game-play doesn't cut it anymore.
4.3. Hexen II - Hammer of Thyrion
Well, can Quake get any better ? We humbly think so - Hexen II.
Raven software made this colourful adaption of the Quake engine, but
the game was released with many rough edges. ...So beautiful, yet so
cruel. And while it is not as widely distributed as Quake, the demo
includes some of the games best levels and is available from the
Sourceforge web site. Ozkan Sezer has plundered the open source world
and added his own touches to bring Dan Olson's original Hexen II port
screaming into the antarctic sunshine!
<http://uhexen2.sourceforge.net>
4.4. Mapping tools
Another first for Quake was the implementation of it's own game
language - Quake C. This lets mods work seamlessly on any operating
system.
It is possible to install many of the editors which are used to make
Quake maps, but creating full scale mods is real voodoo and beyond my
knowledge. The only currently maintained world editor I know of is
GtkRadiant <http://www.qeradiant.com/>.
``QuakeForge'' include Quake C tools with their tarball, and the Quake
Wiki <http://wiki.quakesrc.org/index.php/HomePage> has some relevant
links for the windows platforms.
5. Other
5.1. Text Version
This how-to is also available as a text file <Quake-HOWTO.txt>.
5.2. Old Quake How-To
... is located here <old/Quake-HOWTO.html>
5.3. Quake II
The sci-fi themed sequel that won many fans, but hasn't endured like
the original game.
``QuakeForge'''s latest release is here
<http://www.quakeforge.net/files/quake2forge/quake2-0.3.tar.gz>, and
other related projects are Icculus Quake II
<http://www.icculus.org/quake2/> and Michael Olson's source
<http://www.cs.odu.edu/~olson/linux/quake2-0.12-1jag.src.rpm> and
binary <http://www.cs.odu.edu/~olson/linux/quake2-0.12-1jag.i386.rpm>
packages.
5.4. Quake III
ID software didn't stop at two. The third Quake installment was a
landmark multiplayer game, with some of the most beautiful and well
balanced fragging ever. It was one of the first games to receive a
full Linux commercial release.
Linuxgamers host a Quake III Howto <http://www.linux-
gamers.net/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=30>.
5.5. FreeBSD
The author has limited experience with this OS. ``GLQuake'',
``Darkplaces'' and ``Hammer of Thyrion'' are known to work well.
5.6. Links
ID Software
<http://www.idsoftware.com>
The Linux Game Tome
<http://www.happypenguin.org>
Icculus
<http://www.icculus.org>
Icculus Gamers FAQ
<http://www.icculus.org/lgfaq>
Linux Gamers
<http://www.linux-gamers.net>
Planetquake
<http://www.planetquake.com/quake1>
Quake Terminus
<http://www.quaketerminus.com>
Retro Quake
<http://www.planetquake.com/retroquake/quake/index.html>
Quake Basics
<http://www.quaketerminus.com/quakebible/index.htm>
Quake Wikipedia
<http://wiki.quakesrc.org/index.php/HomePage>
Jörgen's GLQuake Site
<http://mfcn.ilo.de/glxquake>
Quake Forge
<http://www.quakeforge.net>
Darkplaces Game Engine
<http://www.icculus.org/twilight/darkplaces>
Linux Hexen II project
<http://uhexen2.sourceforge.net>
SDL - Cross platform graphics toolkit
<http://www.libsdl.org/>
Lowercase utility
<http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/filerenameutils>
Message Board from hell ...no, I mean it
<http://www.celephais.net/board/forum.php>
5.7. Glossary
Mod
Modification to the original Quake game varying from a complete
game overhaul (total conversion) to simple map/model reworks.
Quake was designed to allow for ease of platform portability
with it's own computer language "Quake C" giving mappers control
over most every aspect of their Quake world.
Client
This word is used in two subtly different ways. In single
player, the Quake game is known as a client, with different
clients using their own graphics libraries (for example, the GL
client "quake.glx" or the X11 client "quake.x11"). The usage is
similar in multiplayer games, but also means the per-user
program which connects to a single "server" program which lets
all the players exist in the same world.
Server
A program central to multiplayer games to which every player
connects.
Bot
A computer generated player with artificial intelligence
(cough), in a multiplayer game. Used to play multiplayer when
no-one's around or not connected to a network.
Tarball
An archive file such as somefile.tar created by the "tar"
program. It is often compressed using the programs "gzip" or
"bzip2", in which case it will normally end in the letters .gz
or .bz2. The extension .tar.gz is often shortened to just .tgz.
5.8. Todo
ati hardware, demo, Quakeworld status, gl_picmip cvars, impulses,
_windowed_mouse ?
5.9. Author
Steven A.
Sourceforge user page. <http://sourceforge.net/users/stevenaaus>
Email <mailto:stevenaaus (at) yahoo (dot) com>
